All the Boat Rides In Disney World and What We Think

Walt Disney World is filled with thrill rides such as Tower of Terror and Rock n’ Roller Coaster at Disney’s Hollywood Studios or family friendly rides such as Peter Pan’s Flight and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh at Magic Kingdom.  The other type of ride that Disney World has a lot of is boat rides.  There are big boat rides, thrilling boat rides, and family friendly boat rides.  We have all the different Disney rides featuring boats you can find in three of the four theme parks (Disney’s Hollywood Studios doesn’t have one) and what we think of them on a scale of 1 (meh) to 5 (magic).  See if you agree with our thoughts!

Animal Kingdom

There are two boat rides Guests can enjoy in Disney’s Animal Kingdom while visiting the theme park during their Disney vacation.

Na’vi River Journey-  Score 1

The first one is a dark ride found in Pandora.  Na’vi River Journey is a slow moving boat ride that takes travelers through the beautiful land.  When we think of this ride we give it about a 1. Don’t get us wrong the visuals are outstanding and the animatronic at the end is an amazing technological achievement for Disney but also scary to some as it looks so real.  The issue we have with this ride is that it moves so slow.  We realize that it slows down so Guests can really take in the different scenes, but we need more to the story if that is the case.  We would like to have more of a connection to the ride as we move through it as well as some sort of interesting movement.  Although it is a great family-friendly ride, we do want more.

Kali River Rapids- Score 1

Kali River Ride might not be exactly a boat, but it is on water so we have included it in our list.  This ride is a traditional water raft ride that typically gets Guests soaked during the extremely short ride experience.  This is part of what we have issues with as we want the ride to be longer and not something that just dumps water on us.  If we are super hot, we would rather grab a cool drink than get soaked on Kali River Rapids.

EPCOT

Over in EPCOT, Guests can choose from three different boat rides, all that we find family-friend and so much fun.

Living with the Land- Score 3

Located in the Land Pavilion, Living with the Land is a true EPCOT boat ride.  Guests travel through the four different gardens that are used throughout Walt Disney World.  Even though the ride isn’t thrilling, we love how real it is.  Guests can often see cast members working throughout the ride showing how it is an active part of EPCOT.

Frozen Ever After- Score 3

The newest boat ride in Walt Disney World is Frozen Ever After and can be found back in the Norway Pavilion.  The love for Frozen and this ride is alive and well and wait times can be extremely long.  If this is a must-do, you will want to get here early.  The songs are so much fun and the visuals can be stunning when they are all working, but sometimes they glitch making it less than  magical.  Even though we love this ride, we aren’t sure it is worth all the hype.

Gran Fiesta Tour Starring The Three Caballeros- Score 3

Also located in EPCOT’s World Showcase is Gran Fiesta Tour Starring The Three Caballeros.  This slow moving boat ride is found inside the Mexico Pavilion and is super fun.  Following Donald on his adventures throughout Mexico.  Although it is fun, there really isn’t a lot of excitement.  Many enjoy seeing Donald, Jose and Panchito at the end of the ride, but those were even missing throughout the year at one point.  This is a nice ride to get you out of the sun but it isn’t anything you should go out of your way to ride.

Magic Kingdom

The rest of the boat rides can be found in Magic Kingdom and they are some of our favorites.

It’s a Small World- Score 4

Everyone is aware of the classic water attraction it’s a Small World.  Found in Fantasyland at the Magic Kingdom, this long, gentle boat ride takes Guests through different countries as they work to find a common thread between all of them- a great message.  We know the song gets a bad wrap, but we love the message and how smooth the ride is.  Wait times have increased lately making it harder to jump on, but overall we still enjoy the ride.

Liberty Square Riverboat- Score 2

The biggest boat in one of the theme parks is the Liberty Belle Riverboat.  Found in Frontierland, this boat takes Guests around giving them unique views of Big Thunder Mountain, The Haunted Mansion and Tom Sawyer Island.  There is nothing exciting or thrilling about this ride, but it is a fantastic way to see parts of Magic Kingdom.  Keep in mind that there is very limited seating and it can get extremely hot in the sun so choose your location wisely.

Splash Mountain- Score 5

Also in Frontierland is Splash Mountain.  We aren’t sure if these are actual boats, but since we are sticking with the water theme we thought we’d include it as well.  Splash Mountain is a fun, thrilling water ride that takes Guests on a fun adventure with Brer Rabbit.  With a few drops, including the big 50 foot one, this attraction brings a lot of laughs and joy.  The ride will be getting a new theme in the future as it transitions to Princess and the Frog. We can’t wait to see this magic in the future.

Jungle Cruise- Score 4

Over in Adventureland Guests can enjoy an adventure like no other as they travel through the rivers of the world.  Made even more popular because of the Jungle Cruise movie and new scenes, this ride had seen wait times that were extremely long.  We love the skippers that work to make this ride truly fantastic as they navigate the different obstacles. If you want to ride this boat ride, make sure you hit it early in the day or late at night for shorter wait times.

Pirates of the Caribbean- Score 5

Our favorite boat ride in Walt Disney World is Pirates of the Caribbean located in Adventureland.  This fantastic ride has it all when it comes to a Disney World attraction- dark ride, great animatronics, drops, songs and outstanding storytelling that makes Disney special.  If you can only choose a boat ride to experience, we highly recommend Pirates of the Caribbean.

When you think of Disney World attractions you might not always think of all the boat rides that are offered throughout the theme parks.  We hope that this list will help you determine which boat rides are a must do during your next Disney World vacation.